5 Minutes With: DUST

DUST was set up by two friends, Lisa Marconi and Sarah Drumm who both share a passion for Interiors and all things quirky. Lisa converted her basement into a beautifully eclectic pop up shop for them to sell all of the unique products that they’ve sourced from around the world. It’s safe to say, we want to buy all of it!

1. How did you come up with the name DUST?

S: Well we were thinking about what we would call ourselves and about what we were going to try and source, so pieces that were a little bit special, quirky unique finds that you couldn’t get your hands on in Dublin. So then we thought, ok, like gold dust! We thought that the word ‘dust’ was a nice simple word to work with but would have it in gold for the branding – so a nice subtle way of using the term.

2. What made you want to get into Interior buying and do a pop up shop?

L: For me it was renovating this house – all of the finishing touches I wanted I would have to go online for. So I realised there was a bit of a gap in the market for those unusual bits which is really my cup of tea – there wasn’t any where selling that sort of stuff here so I thought it would be interesting to see if we could start something up.

S: Then we met up when I moved home from London last October and were chatting about what was happening in Dublin, and there are some great small interior shops here but not selling the sort of stuff we had in mind. So after a bit of thinking we just decided to go for it.

3. Where do you source your products?

S: All over really – London, Berlin, New York, Tawain, Tokyo and Ireland of course. We’re really keen to get Irish designers on board – like we have the gorgeous concrete planters from Ail & El. Definitely going to try and source more Irish products for the next pop up.

4. Is there any where you keep going back to?

L: I really adore Japanese designers – I think there’s some really cool things coming out of the Far East so really looking to source more products there.

5. What’s your favourite piece in the collection?

S: Definitely the King Edison Pendant – just the detail that’s gone into the chandelier it’s stunning.

L: Yeah I’m madly in love with that one too – but I’m also insanely excited about our faux flower shop. I love the idea that we have that as well as all the great products – it’s like having our own little florest! We’ve tried to source really beautiful silk flowers that are so real looking, we hope everyone loves them as much as us.

6. How often do you plan to do a pop up?

S. Well starting with this one which is running for 3 weeks, and then we’re planning to have another one the month before Christmas so kicking off around the last week of November and running for a month. Then in the new year we’re going to start looking for a permanent space – depending on how long that takes we would certainly do another pop up in the interim. We’re looking to move the next pop up a little closer to town and then another possibly in Dun Laoghaire.

7. What’s next for DUST?

S: Well as well as the retail side of DUST, we’re also going to be offering interior styling which we’ll be adding to the website soon. Then once we’ve found our permanent space after Christmas we’re going to set up a design consultancy offering interior design.

L: We would love to have the flower shop as a separate entity as well so are going to explore expanding that too.

8. Any advice for women wanting to start their own business like this?

L: It’s a lot of work, but you learn by doing. If you’re doing something that you love though the hard work is so worth it.

S: Yeah and you have to tap into all the skills you’ve gotten a long the way – it’s a massive learning curve but you just have to go for it.

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